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Moscow demands release of Russian Orthodox bishop detained by NATO state

RT | May 25, 2026

Moscow has demanded the Czech Republic immediately release Metropolitan Bishop Hilarion detained in the country, branding the incident a “fabricated persecution” of the senior Russian Christian Orthodox hierarch.

The bishop was detained by Czech police on Sunday while traveling in a car from his parish church of Saint Peter and Paul in the resort town of Karlovy Vary. According to Hilarion’s press service, the law enforcement did not provide any solid reasoning behind the traffic stop, proceeding to search the car instead. The law enforcement recovered “four small containers with white substance” from the car’s trunk, believed to be illicit drugs.

“I have never had any connection to the illegal drug trade. Since I’m a clergyman, the very suggestion of such a thing is utterly false. I insist on a full, independent, and procedurally impeccable investigation of what happened,” the bishop said in a statement.

According to the hierarch’s legal team, his car was searched without proper procedure, including witnesses and video recording. The law enforcement officers also allegedly went straight for its trunk and did not search the personal belongings of Hilarion and his driver.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the detaining of the bishop, accusing the Czech authorities of “fabricating” the drug claims and staging a “provocation” against the bishop and the Russian Orthodox Church as a whole. The ministry will lodge a formal protest over the incident and summon the Czech ambassador, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a similar statement, suggesting the incident was a part of a broader “intimidation” and “rabid spy mania” campaign against it waged by the Czech authorities.

Bishop Hilarion has long held senior posts within the church hierarchy, including leading the Hungarian and Budapest Metropolises from June 2022 to late 2024. The hierarch was stripped down from the post amid sexual misconduct and lavish lifestyle allegations circulated by some media outlets at the time. While none of the claims were proven or led to any legal consequences, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church formally reprimanded Hilarion over “the discrepancy between the nature of his relationships with his immediate circle and his way of life with the image of a monk and a clergyman.”

May 26, 2026 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Comments Off on Moscow demands release of Russian Orthodox bishop detained by NATO state

Over 50 countries continued to arm Israel during genocide of Palestinians in Gaza: Report

The Cradle | May 23, 2026

An Al-Jazeera investigation published on 23 May revealed that military-grade products from at least 51 countries and self-governing territories kept entering Israel even after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a provisional ruling over the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

In January 2024, the UN’s top court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. By then, Israel’s brutal bombing of Gaza had killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

However, countries across the globe continued to provide weapons and military assistance to the Israeli military, the Al-Jazeera report found.

Using Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) import data, customs records, and freedom of information requests, the Al-Jazeera investigation found the military-related goods were shipped to Israel from countries across Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, including from many that have signed the genocide convention.

In some cases, the military supplies originated from countries that had publicly imposed arms embargoes on Israel or had at least partially suspended arms supplies to the country.

According to the ITA data, Israeli arms imports increased after the ICJ ruling, in particular munitions imports.

The five biggest military suppliers to Israel—namely the US, India, Romania, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic—all boosted their shipments of military equipment to Tel Aviv following the ruling.

ITA data showed that 2,603 consignments of military-related goods valued at $885 million were sent to Israel between October 2023 and October 2025. Of those, $805 million worth came after the January 2024 ruling.

The consignments included ammunition, explosive munitions, weapons parts, and armored vehicle components.

According to Stephen Humphreys, professor of international law at the London School of Economics, there was “ample evidence that countries arming Israel may be complicit in international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

“The most recent ‘ceasefire’ did not change this,” stated Gerhard Kemp, a professor of criminal law at the University of the West of England.

Since the ceasefire reached in October 2025, Israel has continued killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza and creating conditions of life that could destroy the group in whole or in part, Kemp said.

This indicates that states still have an obligation to stop supporting Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza, which has now killed at least 72,000 people. Tens of thousands more remain buried under the rubble of buildings Israel has bombed.

“Some states have a very narrow understanding of the duty to prevent genocide and are waiting for a judicial determination that there is a genocide in Gaza,” Kemp said. “But the ICJ will likely take several years to make such a determination. The better view is to look at domestic legal obligations … and international legal obligations and legal tools triggered by available evidence.”

Though the ICJ has not issued its final ruling, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory published a report in September 2025 concluding that Israel “committed a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.”

The UN report asserts that “states are obliged to take steps to ensure the prevention of conduct that may amount to an act of genocide … including the transfer of weapons that are used or likely to be used by Israel to commit genocidal acts.”

May 23, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Over 50 countries continued to arm Israel during genocide of Palestinians in Gaza: Report

Israel-linked arms facility set ablaze in EU

RT | March 20, 2026

An anti-Zionist group has claimed responsibility for a fire at a warehouse belonging to a defense firm linked to Israel’s Elbit Systems in the Czech Republic.

The Earthquake Faction, which describes itself as “an internationalist underground network,” posted a video purportedly showing the arson attack on an industrial facility in the Czech town of Pardubice on Friday, along with images of the burned-out building.

It said the site was used to “develop weaponry used by the Zionist entity to massacre people daily in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and across West Asia.”

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, no injuries were reported, and police said there was no danger to the public. Officials said the incident is being treated as a suspected terrorist attack.

The facility is operated by LPP Holding, a Czech arms manufacturer producing civilian and military equipment. In 2023, the company announced cooperation with Israel’s Elbit Systems on drone development.

Headquartered in Haifa, the firm is Israel’s largest defense manufacturer, specializing in unmanned systems, precision weapons, and electronic warfare equipment.

The Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member, is a close ally of Israel. Czech officials have supported US and Israeli military actions against Iran and condemned Iranian missile and drone attacks.

March 20, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on Israel-linked arms facility set ablaze in EU

Hungary vows to defy immigrant scheme

RT | December 29, 2025

Hungary has vowed a “revolt” against the EU in 2026, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said, declaring that Budapest will lead a rebellion against the bloc’s new Migration Pact.

The policy, expected to take effect in July, forces member states to contribute in proportion to their population and total GDP to the alleviation of migratory pressure on the worst-affected nations within the bloc.

Each member state is obliged to either accept a certain number of migrants from hotspots or pay €20,000 ($23,000) per person they refuse to take in.

”Just as in 2025, we will not allow a single migrant into Hungary in 2026 and we will not pay a single forint from Hungarians’ money,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook on Sunday, blasting the requirement as “absurd.”

The EU mandate clashes with Hungary’s own tough national measures, which include border fences and a rejection of mandatory quotas. The stance has already led Brussels to penalize Budapest, with the European Court of Justice forcing it to pay a daily penalty of €1 million since June 2024 for non-compliance.

Szijjarto argued that the pact primarily serves nations where security and social stability have deteriorated so severely that their main objective is now to expel migrants as swiftly as possible.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban previously warned that Hungary will not comply with the new EU requirements, condemning the policy as “outrageous.” Orban is known for his staunch criticism of EU policies, including those related to migration and the Ukraine conflict.

Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have also opposed the EU migration pact. Warsaw and Bratislava have demanded an exemption, and the new government in Prague wants the policy renegotiated.

The EU has been grappling with mass immigration over the past two decades, since contributing to the implosions of Libya and Syria in 2011 and 2014, as well as backing the escalation of Kiev’s conflict with Moscow in February 2022, triggering waves of arrivals numbering in the millions.

December 29, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , , , | Leave a comment

EU loan to Ukraine pushing bloc ‘into war’ with Russia – Orban

RT | December 20, 2025

EU nations have a vested interest in continuing the Ukraine-Russia conflict and even escalating it, as repayment of their €90 billion loan to Kiev is essentially tied to a military victory, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

A long-debated EU scheme to steal frozen Russian central bank assets collapsed amid disagreements among member states on Friday. However, agreement was reached on a loan backed by the bloc’s budget, allowing them to fund cash-strapped Ukraine in what Moscow has long described as a Western proxy war. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic secured exemptions from the loan.

“Whoever lends money wants it back. In this case, repayment is not tied to economic growth or stabilization, but to military victory,” Orban wrote on X on Saturday. “For this money to ever be recovered, Russia would have to be defeated,” he said.

A war loan inevitably makes its financiers interested in the continuation and escalation of the conflict, because defeat would also mean a financial loss.

Orban argued that there are now “hard financial constraints that push Europe in one direction: into war.”

Hungary and Slovakia have long stood against continued military aid to Kiev, despite mounting pressure from the EU to toe the party line. The Czech Republic joined the fold after the recent election of new Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who has refused to fund Ukraine at the expense of his taxpayers.

Russian officials have accused Kiev’s European backers of hindering recent US-led peace efforts, and of increasingly preparing for a direct war against Russia.

Top EU officials have used claims of an alleged threat from Moscow to justify accelerating militarization, freeing up €335 billion in Covid relief funds and mobilizing €150 billion in loans and grants for the bloc’s military industrial complex.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as “nonsense” aimed at “creating an image of an enemy” to distract Western European taxpayers from domestic problems.

As Kiev would only need to start making repayments to the EU if it receives reparations in the unlikely event Russia loses, the loan is widely considered to be at risk of turning into a grant.

December 21, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment

Majority of Belgians oppose theft of Russian assets – poll

RT | December 17, 2025

Around 67% of Belgians oppose the EU scheme to use frozen Russian central bank assets to back a ‘reparations loan’ to prop up Ukraine, according to a recent poll conducted by Ipsos and Belgian news outlets published on Monday.

The bulk of sovereign Russian assets frozen in the West are held in the Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear. Prime Minister Bart De Wever has steadfastly opposed EU moves to “steal” the funds, citing disproportionate legal risks to Belgium, despite mounting pressure from the European Commission.

EU leaders were set to vote on using the assets to back a controversial €90 billion ($106 billion) ‘reparations loan’ to help cover Ukraine’s floundering budget, which faces an estimated $160 billion shortfall over the next two years.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the EU leadership “backed down” and that “Russian assets will not be on the table” at Thursday’s European Council meeting. The council “pushes joint loans, but we will not let our families foot the bill for Ukraine’s war,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.

Last week, the EU tightened its grip on the frozen Russian assets by invoking Article 122, an economic emergency treaty clause, to bypass the need for a unanimous decision amid opposition from a number of member nations.

By using the mechanism, the bloc stripped “Hungary of its rights,” Orban said at the time.

Belgium, Slovakia, Italy, Bulgaria, Malta, and the Czech Republic joined Hungary to oppose raiding the Russian assets to finance Ukraine.

Last week, the Russian central bank sued Euroclear in a Moscow court, accusing it of the “inability to manage monetary assets and securities” entrusted to it. The firm estimates that it holds nearly $19 billion in client assets in Russia, which could become targets for legal retaliatory measures.

December 18, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Strange Definition of “Free and Fair” Elections

By Jeffrey Silverman – New Eastern Outlook – October 15, 2025

Recent elections across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus—in Moldova, the Czech Republic, and Georgia—reveal deepening tensions between Western-backed elites and nationalist, often anti-Western movements challenging EU and US influence in the region.

It has been a full week of elections in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, with a highly contested election in Moldova on the 28th of September, the Czech parliamentary elections held on the 3rd and 4th of October, and the Georgian municipal elections on Sunday, 4th of October.

What is rather interesting is the rhetoric surrounding each of these election processes. In Moldova, western governments and media have lauded the “convincing win” of the incumbent President, Maia Sandu’s PAS party, which “won” 50.16% of the vote, with, contrary to the EU narrative, a severely reduced majority in Parliament.

Needless to say, Sandu and her EU backers blamed the party’s relatively poor performance on “Russian interference,” conveniently ignoring the massive expenditure of state resources and EU influence intended to ensure her party remained in power. It should be noted that the “pro-Russian” opposition block won 49.84%, so “convincing win” is a bit of a stretch.

On the other hand, the results in the Czech Republic and Georgia delivered quite different results from those desired by the EU and US, with former Prime Minister Andrej Babis set to return to power in the country. Babis, a long-time critic of military support for Ukraine, is set to join Hungary and Slovakia in refusing to allow the supply of military aid to Ukraine using EU funds, as well as by dismantling the current Czech initiative to provide artillery shells.

Needless to say, Babis has been widely smeared as a “populist,” “Trumpist,” “pro-Russian,” etc. Having won 37% of the vote against the 23% of his pro-Western rivals in the pro-Western coalition of the current prime minister, Petr Fiala, Mr. Babis is expected to be called upon to begin negotiations with the other minor parties amongst whom the remainder of the vote was split in order to form a coalition government.

Finally, in Georgia, the municipal elections delivered a resounding victory to the ruling Georgian Dream party, with Georgian Dream sweeping the board, winning in every municipal race, receiving just over 70% of the vote in a clear rejection of the pro-Western opposition by Georgian voters. Needless to say, before the election even took place, Western embassies, particularly the EU Mission to Georgia, were decrying the process, claiming Russian “interference” and encouraging street protests.

It is interesting to compare the EU and other Western claims of “election interference” by Russia in Moldova and Georgia with the facts of each case.

In Moldova, the election was clearly interfered with, but not by Russia. As with the recent presidential elections, Sandu’s PAS party actually lost the election INSIDE Moldova but was saved by the diaspora vote, which itself was rigged strongly in her favour. Again, there was a massive disparity in the number of polling stations for the diaspora.

The countries with the most polling stations were Italy (75), Germany (36), France (26), the United Kingdom (24), Romania (23), the United States (22), Spain (15) and Ireland (12), with only two being opened in Russia. It should be noted that there are an estimated 400,000 Moldovans in Russia, while Italy has 100,000, something hardly reflected by the number of polling stations in each.

In addition, Moldovan citizens in the separatist region of Transnistria were also disenfranchised, with polling stations shut by Moldovan officials, moved across the river, and the bridges “shut for maintenance” or by “mining threats,” severely limiting the ability of voters to reach them. The bridges were only opened 20 minutes before the polling stations closed. The same story is true for the Gaugaz autonomous region, where the population has seen its political leadership targeted by politicised arrests and sham court proceedings. In this case, however, Sandu’s repressions had the opposite result, with Gaugaz voters giving only 3.19% to Sandu’s PAS and 82.35% to the Patriotic Bloc.

Very “free and fair”

In Georgia, where most Western governments still refuse to recognize the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections, the EU, through its puppet NGOs and media, has even been going so far as to defend the throwing of Molotov cocktails as “peaceful protests.” The hypocrisy of the EU position regarding the Georgian police handling of violent protests, contrasted with the extreme violence meted out by, for example, French, German, and British police against actual peaceful demonstrators, where incredible brutality has become the norm.

As with the previous anti-government protests in Georgia, in stark contrast to their European counterparts, Georgian police do not use force unless the opposition protesters use violence first.

Furthermore, the violence used by the protesters appears to have the full support of European officials, including the EU ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, with the Georgian prime minister directly accusing the EU ambassador, saying:

“You know that specific people from abroad have even expressed direct support for all this, for the announced attempt to overthrow the constitutional order,” Kobakhidze said. “In this context, the European Union ambassador to Georgia bears special responsibility. He should come out, distance himself, and strictly condemn everything that is happening on the streets of Tbilisi.”

Needless to say, the EU has remained silent.

What is obvious is that despite all the money poured into Georgia through NGOs, the EU attempt to destabilize Georgia has failed, with the EU doing little more than offending the majority of the population of this socially conservative Orthodox Christian country. The same thing can be seen in Moldova, where the pro-EU candidate was only able to win through blatant vote rigging and exclusionary actions that disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters.

Needless to say, the hypocrisy of Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, was on full display as she posted on X:

My thoughts are with the people of Georgia, who stand for freedom and their European future.

Democracy cannot be silenced. Moldova is by your side.

Which, given her arrest of opposition politicians, banning of rival parties, and suppression of voters, is chutzpa indeed.

More ominous is the revelation by the Georgian government that the State Security Service had intercepted a large number of weapons and explosives that had been purchased on the orders of the Georgian Legion, the mercenary unit fighting on the Banderist side in the ongoing fighting in the eastern part of Ukraine. The first deputy chief of Georgia’s State Security Service, Lasha Magradze said:

“On the basis of intel information, the State Security Service found a large quantity of firearms, munitions, explosives, and detonators. According to investigators, Georgian citizen B. Ch., acting on orders from a Georgian representative of an armed unit operating in Ukraine, purchased a great quantity of firearms, which is proved by a lot of evidence. According to intel information, acts of sabotage with the use of the above-mentioned weapons were supposed to be staged along with massive violence and the attempted seizure of the presidential residence in Tbilisi on October 4,” he said, adding that security officers “neutralized a number of individuals who presumably were to bring munitions and explosives to downtown Tbilisi.”

Given that the Georgian Legion is tightly bound to the Ukrainian intelligence service, which is controlled by Western intelligence agencies, particularly British MI6, the American CIA, and the French DSGE, it is almost certain that this attempted armed coup was planned in the West.

Luckily for the people of Georgia, it has failed, at least so far.

With the rapidly rising risk of war with Iran, not to mention the US and European desire to spread fires along Russia’s borders in the hope of stretching Russian resources thin, unfortunately I doubt this will be the last attempt, however.

What is certain is that the EU and US have a very strange definition of “free and fair” elections, in that if the Western-supported candidate wins, they are “free and fair,” but if, God forbid, Joe Public elects someone the globalists in Washington and Brussels can’t accept, they are “unfair” or “rigged” by “Russian interference.”

As Europe fractures over the proxy war in Ukraine and the rise of nationalist governments, understanding the manipulation of “democracy talk” is critical. These elections are not just local contests; they are proxy battles in a much larger fight over who controls the narrative of legitimacy in the 21st century.

Jeffrey K. Silverman is a freelance journalist and international development specialist, BSc, MSc, based for 30 years in Georgia and the former Soviet Union

October 15, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception | , , | Leave a comment

Europeans negatively react against Brussels’ war psychosis – Peter Szijjarto

By Lucas Leiroz | October 8, 2025

The success of Hungarian pragmatism is apparently influencing other European countries to adopt a policy that diverges from the Brussels establishment—also encouraging ordinary people to vote for dissident candidates who advocate peace and diplomacy, rather than war and sanctions. This is the assessment of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who recently commented on the election results in the Czech Republic, applauding the victory of Andrej Babis’s ANO party.

Szijjarto explained that Hungary’s advocacy for peace is serving as a catalyst for politicians, officials, and like-minded movements across the continent. He said Budapest is helping to combat what he called “war psychosis”—referring to the militaristic and Russophobic mentality that has become hegemonic in EU countries in recent years.

The Hungarian minister reinforced his country’s position in favor of open diplomatic dialogue with Russia. Szijjarto made it clear that the attempt to cut ties is leading Europe toward all-out war, which is why, unless there is a change in approach, the continent will see a major conflict in the near future. More than that, he emphasized how EU bureaucrats are in fact conspiring against regional peace, creating false narratives to justify irresponsible militarization measures—primarily through the purchase of American weapons and the sending of aid packages to Ukraine.

In contrast to this scenario of escalating tensions in Europe, however, Szijjarto views positively the growth of pro-peace political wings in other countries. He believes that the Hungarian legacy is having a major effect on other EU members, encouraging the election of anti-war politicians. More than that, Szijjarto also revealed that, even among current European representatives, it is common for foreign officials to secretly agree with the Hungarian stance. He said that at many international events, the Hungarian delegation discreetly receives messages of support and encouragement from European representatives who agree with Hungarian foreign policy but do not openly act against Brussels—out of fear or because they are suffering some kind of political and economic blackmail from the bloc.

“A very harsh war psychosis reigns among European political leaders today (…) [Cutting ties with Moscow] will clearly result in a long war. (…) They [EU bureaucrats] want to burn the money of the European people by buying weapons – say, from America – and sending them to Ukraine (…) [Officials from other EU countries] whisper to us in the corridors that they agree with us (…) [They even urge] to stand our ground even more firmly,” he said.

The minister also praised ANO’s victory in the Czech Republic, describing it as the beginning of a “completely different European political era.” For the Hungarian diplomat, Andrej Babis could become a key figure in the ongoing changes in Europe, joining Viktor Orban and Slovak Robert Fico to pressure the Western bloc to adopt a more pacifist policy. Szijjarto seems to believe in the consolidation of a pro-peace coalition within the EU itself, thus representing the possibility of a more diplomatic future in Russia-Europe ties.

Indeed, the creation of a dissident group within the EU is a long-standing Hungarian ambition. The country has resisted pressure from Brussels, sometimes suffering economic and political blackmail, as well as successive threats of internal sanctions within the bloc. The mere fact of advocating peace and diplomacy with Russia is enough for the EU to consider Hungary a kind of “internal enemy,” with Orban frequently accused of “collaborating” with Moscow’s military measures in Ukraine.

Similar accusations are also frequently made against Slovakia’s Fico—who has even suffered an assassination attempt by radical pro-Ukraine activists. Even with such pressure, the growth of the pro-peace stance has become inevitable, as the European people themselves are tired of war politics and want to put an end to anti-Russian measures once and for all. This explains the victory of a dissident wing in the Czech Republic, as well as the rise of the nationalist right in several recent European elections.

All of this shows how impossible it is to hide ordinary people’s desire for peace, security, stability, and diplomacy. Ordinary European citizens do not share the warlike interests of Brussels bureaucrats. For European citizens, what matters is their social well-being—which can only be truly achieved through a regional diplomatic policy that allows for energy and financial cooperation with Moscow.

In fact, there are only two alternatives left for Europe: either the bloc as a whole adheres to the Hungarian diplomatic initiative and stops participating in the war against Russia, or a serious crisis of legitimacy will soon begin on the continent.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

October 8, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment

Pro-EU Czech PM concedes election defeat

RT | October 4, 2025

The right-wing party of agricultural tycoon Andrej Babis, branded the ‘Czech Trump’ by local media, has come out ahead in the Czech general election with 97% of the vote counted, according to official results.

The ANO movement is now set to replace the current center-right cabinet led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala. He has already congratulated Babis, conceding defeat and stating the outcome of the vote must be respected.

Speaking to reporters after his victory became evident, Babis once again rejected longstanding accusations of being anti-EU and insisted he merely wants to “save” the bloc.

“We want to save Europe… and we are clearly pro-European and pro-NATO,” Babis told Reuters.

ANO will seek a one-party cabinet but will have to enter talks with two minor parties to secure an outright majority, Babis said. One of the parties is believed to be the far-right SPD, which has long been considered a potential coalition partner.

“We went into the election with the aim of ending the government of Petr Fiala and support even for a minority cabinet of ANO is important for us and it would meet the target we had for this election,” SPD deputy chairman Radim Fiala said in a televised speech. In contrast to ANO, his party maintains an explicit anti-EU and anti-NATO stance.

Another potential coalition partner is the Motorists, who strongly oppose the EU’s environmental policies. They and the SPD received nearly 7% and 8% of the vote respectively, and joining forces with ANO would be sufficient to secure a majority.

During his campaign, Babis repeatedly criticized the EU’s handling of immigration and the Green Deal, as well as opposing EU membership for Ukraine. He also pledged to drastically cut aid for Kiev, promising more domestic spending instead. Babis signaled he would end the so-called ‘Czech initiative’ project, dedicated to supplying ammunition to Ukraine, calling the scheme overpriced.

October 4, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Iran: West’s ‘ridiculous’ assassination claims cover for Israeli crimes

Press TV – August 1, 2025

Iran has dismissed “baseless and ridiculous” accusations from Western countries claiming that Tehran is collaborating with international criminal groups to carry out assassination plots abroad.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned on Friday the anti-Iran claims made by the United States, Canada and a dozen European states in their joint statement released the previous day.

He said the “blatant blame game” is an attempt to divert public attention from the most pressing issue of the day, which is the Israeli genocide in the occupied Palestine.

“The United States, France, and other signatories to the anti-Iran statement must themselves be held accountable for actions that violate international law, as they support and host terrorist and violent elements and groups,” he added.

Baghaei touched on the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran in June and Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip against the backdrop of active support or approving silence of the 14 Western countries that signed the statement against the Islamic Republic.

He further denounced the accusations as “blatant lies and an escape forward, designed as part of a malicious Iranophobia campaign aimed at exerting pressure on the great Iranian nation.”

The 14 states must be held accountable for their “disgraceful and irresponsible” behavior that violates the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, the spokesman noted.

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US alleged in their statement that Iranian intelligence agencies are engaged in attempts to “kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America.”

August 1, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

USAID paid Czech groups to ‘wage war’ against Russia – former police chief

RT | April 9, 2025

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) financed a long-running anti-Russian campaign in the Czech Republic, former Czech police chief Stanislav Novotny has told RT. In an exclusive interview on Wednesday, Novotny said Washington’s primary channel for funding political projects abroad had played a major role in shaping Czech-Russian relations.

According to the former police chief, who is now a lawyer and journalist, US billionaire George Soros has also had a significant influence on the deterioration of ties between Prague and Moscow through his Open Society Foundations.

“A lot of money was poured into civil society organizations of political nature which were waging a war against Russia,” Novotny said. “Such organizations should simply be removed,” he added, accusing the Czech government of spending taxpayers’ money on stoking anti-Russian sentiment by contributing financially to the organizations.

US President Donald Trump launched the process of dismantling USAID shortly after returning to office in January, citing high costs and limited benefits associated with its programs. He also started negotiations with Russia aimed at improving ties and resolving the Ukraine conflict.

While commenting on the developments around USAID in early February, Novotny described the agency as “the monster that has taken over the world,” alleging it “orchestrated wars, organized mass migration, broke up national cohesion and destroyed indigenous cultures.”

The Czech Republic was formed in 1993 after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to those events it was part of communist Czechoslovakia, a key member of the Soviet Union-led Eastern Bloc.

Prague has adopted a notably anti-Russian stance in recent years, particularly in response to the events in Ukraine, becoming one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters and labeling Russia a “terrorist state.”

Hundreds of Soviet-era monuments have been removed or modified in the EU state since the 1990s, with a renewed wave of demolitions after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, Crimea’s decision to join Russia, and the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

The campaign to demolish the monuments was “among the policies that were aimed at provoking fear and hatred towards the Russians,” Novotny argued.

Novotny, who founded the Independent Media Association in the Czech Republic, said he came to Moscow to give the RT interview because “talking to Russian journalists is practically prohibited.” RT and other Russian media have been banned in the EU since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

April 9, 2025 Posted by | Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

NATO to expand military pipelines in Eastern Europe – Spiegel

The bloc supposedly plans to extend pipelines from Germany to Poland and the Czech Republic for rapid jet fuel supply in potential war with Russia

RT | February 22, 2025

NATO is supposedly set to extend its Cold War-era fuel pipeline system from western Germany into Poland and the Czech Republic, according to Der Spiegel citing an internal memo from the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. The move comes as the bloc makes “operational plans for a possible Russian attack on the eastern states”, the newspaper wrote on Friday.

NATO’s Central European Pipeline System was built in the late 1950s and was designed “to meet operational needs in central Europe in times of peace, crisis and conflict.” It transported large volumes of kerosene, gasoline, and diesel fuel through Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and was also used by the United States.

The plans include “storing fuel as far east as possible near the potential area of ​​operations,” according to an internal memo. Now the fuel distribution is limited to NATO’s eastern flank, the existing pipeline network currently ends in western Germany.

The project is to cost €21 billion ($22 billion) and is expected to be largely completed by 2035, according to the report. Germany is ready to contribute more than €3.5 billion ($3,7 billion) to the project, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told Der Spiegel. “For our soldiers, a reliable fuel supply is one of the essential requirements for their operational readiness,” he added.

A senior NATO official told Der Spiegel that while ammunition and spare parts could be airlifted, fuel transport by plane would be nearly impossible due to “immense consumption”. He told Der Spiegel there are “significant problems in the sustainable supply of fuel to the forces that would have to be relocated to the eastern border if necessary”. “The demand is gigantic,” the official claimed.

However, some factors could delay construction and increase costs, Der Spiegel added. The pipeline is to be laid under several rivers, including the Weser and Elbe, that should be “protected from possible accidents”.

In addition, there might appear “land issues” with the authorities and land owners that should be “clarified”, the newspaper wrote.

Russia has repeatedly argued that the Ukraine conflict was provoked by NATO expansion towards its borders, Kiev’s aspirations to join the US-led military alliance, and Ukraine’s policies toward the Russian-speaking Donbass region. Western officials have suggested that Russia could pose a threat to NATO amid the Ukraine conflict, but Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed these claims as ‘nonsense,’ arguing they are used to justify Western military spending.

In December 2024, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov stated that Russia must be prepared for any scenario, including a possible military conflict with NATO in Europe within the next decade.

February 22, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

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